R. James Woolsey

R. James Woolsey joined Booz Allen Hamilton in July, 2002, as a Vice President and officer in the firm’s Global Assurance practice located in McLean, Virginia. Previously Mr. Woolsey was a partner at the law firm of Shea & Gardner in Washington, D.C., where he practiced for twenty-two years, on four occasions, beginning in1973; his practice was in the fields of civil litigation and alternative dispute resolution.

During the twelve years he has served in the U.S. Government Mr. Woolsey has held Presidential appointments in two Democratic and two Republican administrations. He was Director of Central Intelligence in 1993-95. He also served as: Ambassador to the Negotiation on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), Vienna, 1989-1991; Under Secretary of the Navy, 1977-1979; and General Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services, 1970-73. He was appointed by the President as Delegate at Large to the U.S.-Soviet Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) and Nuclear and Space Arms Talks (NST), and served in that capacity on a part-time basis in Geneva, 1983-1986. As an officer in the U.S. Army he was an adviser on the U.S. Delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I), Helsinki and Vienna, 1969-1970.

Mr. Woolsey is currently: the Chairman of the Board of Freedom House, the Chairman of the Advisory Boards of the Clean Fuels Foundation and the New Uses Council, and a Trustee of the Center for Strategic & International Studies. He also serves on the National Commission on Energy Policy. In the past he has been the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Regents of The Smithsonian Institution, and a trustee of: Stanford University, The Goldwater Scholarship Foundation, and the Aerospace Corporation. He has also been a member of: The National Commission on Terrorism, 1999-2000; The Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the U.S. (Rumsfeld Commission), 1998; The President’s Commission on Federal Ethics Law Reform, 1989; The President’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense Management (Packard Commission), 1985-1986; and The President’s Commission on Strategic Forces (Scowcroft Commission), 1983.

Mr. Woolsey is presently a principal in the Homeland Security Fund of Paladin Capital Group and a member of the Board of Directors of four privately held companies, generally in fields related to infrastructure protection and resilience. He also serves as Vice Chairman of the Advisory Board of Global Options LLC. He has served in the past as a member of the Boards of Directors of a number of other publicly and privately held companies, generally in fields related to technology and security, including: Martin Marietta; British Aerospace, Inc.; Fairchild Industries; Titan Corporation; DynCorp, Yurie Systems, Inc.; and USF&G; he has also served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.

Mr. Woolsey was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1941. He is married to Suzanne Haley Woolsey, who is the Chief Communications Officer of the National Academies (Science, Engineering, and Medicine) and who serves on several corporate and non-profit boards. They have three sons: Robert, Daniel, and Benjamin. Mr. Woolsey attended Tulsa public schools, graduating from Tulsa Central High School in 1959. He received his B.A. Degree from Stanford University (1963, With Great Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa), an M.A. from Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar 1963-65), and an LL.B from Yale Law School (1968, Managing Editor of the Yale Law Journal).

Mr. Woolsey is a frequent contributor of articles to major publications, and from time to time gives public speeches and media interviews, on the subjects of foreign affairs, defense, energy, critical infrastructure protection and resilience, and intelligence.